Matcha Kit Kat

Who doesn’t love a Kit Kat bar, with its crunchy “fingers” that consist of three layers of wafer cookies covered in chocolate?

But did you know just how many variations there are around the world?

Sure, we can’t resist the basic milk chocolate Kit Kat found in stores everywhere in the United States. But folks in Canada can indulge in peanut butter ones, while hazelnut cream ones are sold in Germany, strawberry ones in Australia and tiramisu in the United Kingdom.

Last week, I snagged a bag of matcha Kit Kat bars at Nijiya market in San Jose’s Japantown. Yes, green tea-flavored ones.

These mini, Halloween-sized ones are a product of Japan. You get 13 mini ones to a $6.49 bag. Definitely not cheap.

Each individually wrapped bar can be separated into two fingers. Two bars have a total of 138 calories. With green tea paste and green tea cocoa powder in the ingredients list, the taste is that of mild, milky, quite sweet green tea.

I don’t know if they beat the standard milk chocolate ones, but they’re definitely a fun change of pace from the norm.

Launched in 1935 as Chocolate Crisp in York, England, the confection was supposedly named after the KitKat Club, an 18th Century Whig literacy club. “As the building had very low ceilings, it could accommodate only paintings that were wide but not too high. In the art world, such paintings became known as ‘kitkats.’ It is therefore conceivable that the humble Kit Kat derived its name from paintings that had to be snapped off to fit into low-ceiling rooms,” according to the Kit Kat Web site.

Just how popular has the candy remained?

According to the Web site, every five minutes, enough Kit Kats are produced to out stack the height of the Eiffel Tower.

I love love matcha kit kats! I can’t believe you found them at Nijiya. I wonder if they have it at the Nijiya near me. I know I always look, but never see it. Sometimes Mitsuwa carries other flavors like milk tea and milk pudding, but I’ve never seen either store carry matcha. I’ll have to look soon!

I would love to get a bag of the matcha Kit Kats! How interesting about the different flavors – I had no idea they’d been tailored. Wonder what other candy bars have been modified depending on where sold. Thanks for the info. =)

Orchid64: Lemon squash flavored Kit Kats?!? Oh my! And I think you are right about the calorie count. The bag says it’s 138 calories for “two pieces.” I thought that meant “two fingers,” but now I see they must mean “two bars.” That’s good — that means I can eat an extra one now. LOL

This is so cool! I’ve heard about this, but I’ve never gotten the chance to try them! They should have some of these flavors in the US. I’m sure people would love to try them! Oh, and thanks for the info about the name! I love stuff like that. 🙂

of everything i brought back from my travels in asia, the japanese kit kats of varying flavors were the biggest hit. i only wish i could’ve brought back more, so tasty, i love the matcha and milk tea ones. the wasabi ones are kind of fun too 🙂

I just found a company called Jade Monk who is coming out with some great flavored matcha drinks. I contacted them and they said it should be out within a month. Check them out at http://www.jademonk.com